Line-of-sight-pointing for satellites in high altitude inclined elliptic orbits

With a growing demand for space communications and resulting overcrowding of geostationary orbit (GEO), the importance of high altitude inclined elliptic orbits is gaining impetus. However, the satellites in these orbits suffer from a severe problem of apparent periodic angular drift around their line-of-sight. This paper addresses this problem and proposes a cost effective method based on tether to continually tilt the satellites in order to compensate for longitudinal and lateral drifts relative to the ground station. The proposed system comprises two satellites connected by a flexible tether at a point on each satellite with offsets. A control strategy is developed for tether offset variations that ensures judiciously controlled changes in the satellite orientations. The numerical simulation of the governing nonlinear equations of motion establishes the feasibility of the concept. A high degree of line-of-sight pointing of dual satellites as well as the simplicity of the proposed control mechanism makes the concept particularly attractive for future space applications.     

Tethered dual spacecraft configuration: a solution to attitude control problems

A new dual spacecraft configuration comprising of two spacecraft halves judiciously connected through extremely short tethers is proposed. The simple tethered configuration induces stabilizing torques when subjected to attitude disturbances, thus ensuring 3-d pointing stability of both the satellite platforms. The enhanced system performance obtained using tethers enables a much greater flexibility in the choice of satellite mass distribution. Three particular TSS models involving parallel tethers, a `parachute-like' conical tether layout as well as a single tether connection have been considered. A detailed numerical response simulation shows that these modes of tether attachments bring about a radical change in the satellite attitude behavior from the nominal one involving relatively large librational amplitudes or instability to a virtually fixed desired orientation. Of these, the parachute configuration appears to be superior. The passive nature of the proposed mechanisms using tether lengths on the order of merely a couple of meters needed for small and medium size systems makes the concept particularly attractive for future space missions. Finally, it is felt that the proposed tethered dual satellite systems may offer a simple answer to three-axis attitude control problems.     

空间绳系机器人逼近目标协调控制方法

 为了节省空间绳系机器人的末端执行装置在逼近目标卫星过程中推力器所使用的燃料,本文提出一种利用推力器、反作用轮及空间系绳的协调控制方法。首先利用二次型最优控制器(LQR)算法计算出末端执行装置逼近目标所需的理想轨道控制力,然后利用模拟退火算法将所需轨道控制力优化分配到推力器及空间系绳,同时利用时间延迟算法通过反作用轮补偿空间系绳产生的姿态干扰力矩。仿真结果表明,利用该协调控制方法能显著节省末端执行装置上推力器的燃料消耗,有效抑制空间系绳协调控制力产生的姿态干扰,使末端执行装置保持相对稳定的姿态。     

空间绳系机器人捕获目标后的面内自适应回收方法

在空间绳系机器人(TSR)捕获目标星后,操作机构与目标星形成质量、惯量和系绳连接点位置等参数未知的组合体,且系绳长度、偏角与组合体姿态严重耦合,控制输入严格受限,回收控制十分困难。针对其回收难题,综合考虑系绳长度、系绳偏角与组合体姿态,利用拉格朗日法建立了轨道面内的动力学模型,并基于动态逆理论设计了一种自适应抗饱和回收控制方法。首先,在对组合体质量、惯量与系绳连接点进行在线估计的基础上,设计一种自适应动态逆回收控制器;然后,设计辅助变量对控制输入进行补偿,解决控制输入受限问题;最后进行仿真验证。仿真结果表明,在线估计器能够快速有效地估计组合体动力学参数,回收控制系统能够利用受限的控制输入克服抓捕时刻的系绳偏角和组合体姿态扰动,并沿设计的回收轨迹实现稳定有效回收。     

Momentum wheel start-up method for HAUSAT-2 ultra-small satellite

This paper addresses a newly proposed start-up method of the HAUSAT-2 satellite momentum wheel. The HAUSAT-2 is a 25 kg class nanosatellite which is stabilized to an earth pointing attitude by 3-axis active control method. A momentum wheel performs two functions. It provides a pitch-axis momentum bias while measuring satellite pitch and roll attitude. Pitch control is accomplished in a conventional way by driving a momentum wheel in response to pitch attitude errors. Precession control and nutation damping are provided by operating the pitch-axis magnetic torquer. A momentum wheel is nominally spinning at a particular rate, and speed changes are made as needed. Spinning the momentum wheel redistributes the angular momentum to the spacecraft body. If the wheel is suddenly spun up to its nominal speed, the large momentum produced together with the existing momentum due to the nominal rotational motions will result in a high disturbance and unstable motion. This simulation study investigates the feasibility and performance of a proposed strategy for starting-up the wheel. A proposed strategy to start-up the wheel shows that its pitch momentum wheel can start-up successfully to its nominal speed from rest, and can be stabilized to nadir pointing within about three orbits.     

A view finder control system for an earth observation satellite

A real time TV view finder is used on-board a low earth orbiting (LEO) satellite to manually select targets for imaging from a ground station within the communication footprint of the satellite. The attitude control system on the satellite is used to steer the satellite using commands from the groundstation and a television camera onboard the satellite will then downlink a television signal in real time to a monitor screen in the ground station. The operator in the feedback loop will be able to manually steer the boresight of the satellite's main imager towards interested target areas e.g. to avoid clouds or correct for any attitude pointing errors. Due to a substantial delay (in the order of a second) in the view finding feedback loop and the narrow field of view of the main imager, the operator has to be assisted by the onboard attitude control system to stabilise and track the target area visible on the monitor screen.This paper will present an extended Kalman filter used to estimate the satellite's attitude angles using quaternions and the bias vector component of the 3-axis inertial rate sensors (gyros). Absolute attitude sensors (i.e. sun, horizon and magnetic) are used to supply the measurement vectors to correct the filter states during the view finder manoeuvres. The target tracking and rate steering reaction wheel controllers to accurately point and with high agility stabilise the satellite, will be presented. The controller reference generator for the satellite-to-target attitude and rate vectors, as used by the reaction wheel controllers, will be derived.     

Libration and end body swing stabilization of a parallel partial space elevator system

This paper studies the libration and stabilization of a parallel partial space elevator system in circular orbits. The system is made up of two paralleled partial space elevators, each of which consists of one main satellite, one end body and a climber moving along the tether between them. The libration characteristics of the elevator are studied through numerical analysis by a new dynamic model, and a novel control strategy is proposed to stabilize the swing of the end body by projecting the climber speeds only. Optimal control method is used to implement the new control strategy in the case where the climbers move in opposite direction. The simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed control strategy whose application will neither sacrifice the transport efficiency nor exacerbate libration significantly.     

Satellite Librational Damping Using a Quasi-Feedback Solar Controller

The feasibility of developing a simple quasi-feedback solar attitude controller is explored. The case of arbitrarily-shaped satellites carrying two pairs of solar surfaces in circular orbits is considered. An approximate analytical approach is used to synthesize the suitable open-loop control relations enabling decay of the satellite librations. The quasi-feedback control scheme suggested here is found to be quite effective in damping the pitch motion. The proposed control approach appears to be particularly attractive as it requires knowledge of the librational angle and velocity only at a fixed satellite position in orbit.     

Real time estimator for control of an orbiting single tether system

A real-time estimator is developed for the control of the Tether Dynamics Explorer (TDE) system. TDE is being used in a series of tethered satellite flight experiments whose purpose is to validate existing system models and test proposed control laws. Each experiment consists of an orbiting Delta II second stage which deploys toward the Earth a small box-shaped passive endbody at the end of a flexible tether. A discrete extended Kalman filter (DEKF) is presented which can operate in real time and in conjunction with control laws. This filter estimates the in-plane and out-of-plane tether libration angles and their rates from a proposed three-axis tether tension measurement device in the Delta second stage. The simulation results indicate that the DEKF can estimate the libration angle and their rates from a three-axis tension and length measurement with an acceptable error. The relatively simple computations required make this algorithm particularly well suited for real-time operation.<>     

Observer-based control for the platform of a tethered space robot

This paper addresses the attitude control problem of a space tethered robot platform in the presence of unknown external disturbance caused by a connecting elastic tether. The tether-generated unknown disturbance leads to tremendous challenges for attitude control of the platform. In this work, the perturbed attitude dynamics of the platform are derived with a consideration of the libration of the elastic tether, and then with the purpose of compensating the unknown disturbance, major attention is dedicated to develop a nonlinear disturbance observer based on gyros measurements, after which, an adaptive attitude scheme is proposed by combining the disturbance observer with a sliding mode controller. Finally, benefits from the observer based on an adaptive controller are validated by series of numerical simulations.     

低轨卫星对高轨卫星仅测角初轨计算方法

针对我国地面测站对高轨卫星监视能力缺乏的问题,提出一种低轨卫星对高轨卫星仅测角初轨计算方法。该算法引入天基跟踪坐标系,消除测距信息影响,建立仅测角观测方程;引入法向运动,增加摄动因素影响,建立扩展拉普拉斯动力学模型;推导分析观测模型和动力学模型的关系方程,将初轨计算问题转换为非线性方程求解问题,利用高斯全主元消去法完成方程求解。通过实战和仿真测角数据对方法进行检验,结果表明,该方法能利用仅测角数据对非合作目标进行初轨确定,精度在公里量级,可为我国地基监视系统提供补充参考。     

DOA estimation for attitude determination on communication satellites

In order to determine an appropriate attitude of three-axis stabilized communication satellites, this paper describes a novel attitude determination method using direction of arrival （DOA） estimation of a ground signal source. It differs from optical measurement, magnetic field measurement, inertial measurement, and global positioning system （GPS） attitude determination. The proposed method is characterized by taking the ground signal source as the attitude reference and acquiring attitude information from DOA estimation. Firstly, an attitude measurement equation with DOA estimation is derived in detail. Then, the error of the measurement equation is analyzed. Finally, an attitude determination algorithm is presented using a dynamic model, the attitude measurement equation, and measurement errors. A developing low Earth orbit （LEO） satellite which tests mobile communication technology with smart antennas can be stabilized in three axes by corporately using a magnetometer, reaction wheels, and three-axis magnetorquer rods. Based on the communication satellite, simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. The method could be a backup of attitude determination to prevent a system failure on the satellite. Its precision depends on the number of snapshots and the input signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） with DOA estimation.     

A Diagnostic Tree Approach for Fault Cause Identification in the Attitude Control Subsystem of Satellites

Space and Earth observation programs demand stringent guarantees ensuring smooth and reliable operations of space vehicles and satellites. Due to unforeseen circumstances and naturally occurring faults, it is desired that a fault-diagnosis system be capable of detecting, isolating, identifying, or classifying faults in the system. Unfortunately, none of the existing fault-diagnosis methodologies alone can meet all the requirements of an ideal fault- diagnosis system due to the variety of fault types, their severity, and handling mechanisms. However, it is possible to overcome these shortcomings through the integration of different existing fault-diagnosis methodologies. In this paper, a novel learning-based, diagnostic-tree approach is proposed which complements and strengthens existing efficient fault detection mechanisms with an additional ability to classify different types of faults to effectively determine potential fault causes in a subsystem of a satellite. This extra capability serves as a semiautomatic diagnostic decision support aid to expert human operators at ground stations and enables them to determine fault causes and to take quick and efficient recovery/reconfiguration actions. The developed diagnosis/analysis procedure exploits a qualitative technique denoted as diagnostic tree (DX-tree) analysis as a diagnostic tool for fault cause analysis in the attitude control subsystem (ACS) of a satellite. DX-trees constructed by our proposed machine-learning-based automatic tree synthesis algorithm are demonstrated to be able to determine both known and unforeseen combinations of events leading to different fault scenarios generated through synthetic attitude control subsystem data of a satellite. Though the immediate application of our proposed approach would be at ground stations, the proposed technique has potential for being integrated with causal model-based diagnosis and recovery techniques for future autonomous space vehicle missions.     

基于变结构控制器的敏捷卫星姿态机动方法

随着遥感卫星观测能力的逐步提升,对卫星敏捷机动能力提出了更高的要求。针对敏捷卫星大角度姿态机动问题,以6个单框架控制力矩陀螺(SGCMG)组成五棱锥构型的姿态控制系统执行机构,在构建敏捷卫星姿态运动数学模型以及设计SGCMG系统操纵律的基础上,对卫星绕Euler轴进行姿态机动的角轨迹进行规划,并设计了一种基于误差四元数与误差角速度的变结构控制器。仿真及在轨验证结果表明,该控制器能够完成规划轨迹的良好跟踪且具有较强的鲁棒性,研究成果对敏捷卫星姿态控制系统的设计具有重要的参考意义。     

基于地面任务-空间姿态映射的敏捷卫星任务规划

面向观测时间窗口相互重叠的多点目标观测任务需求,对敏捷卫星单星单轨任务规划问题进行研究。针对传统方法在卫星机动能力受限和成像任务冗余两种情况下求解效率低的缺陷,引入任务-姿态协同规划思想。首先,建立地面任务和空间姿态映射关系,并考虑相邻任务间姿态机动时间的最优性使得卫星在观测相邻任务时无多余等待时间,以此来设计任务-姿态协同规划数学模型。其次,根据任务-姿态协同规划数学模型,设计自适应伪谱遗传算法（APGA）,用以求解满足调整时间最优性的敏捷卫星任务规划问题。最后,通过仿真实验,验证了模型和算法能够有效地解决传统算法求解敏捷卫星任务规划问题时存在的求解效率低的缺陷。     

利用姿态测量数据确定卫星初始轨道

提出了一种利用姿态测量数据确定卫星初始轨道的新方法。姿态确定后,根据卫星姿态与位置函数的关系,可确定位置矢量的方向数。采用三个不同时刻的测量值,根据飞行时间定理和几何约束条件,得到卫星轨道的解析方程。利用微分校正法解方程即可得卫星轨道参数,最后对卫星多种姿态及飞行轨道进行了仿真计算,结果显示迭代算法收敛,证明此方法是可行的。     

利用受限张力的拖曳变轨欠驱动姿态稳定策略

在空间绳系拖曳变轨中,目标和平台形成一种哑铃型绳系系统,且仅依靠有限的平台推力和系绳张力来抑制系绳的摆动。针对此类输入受限的欠驱动控制问题,提出了一种利用受限张力的姿态稳定策略。首先,推导了组合体姿态动力学模型。然后通过数值求解姿态平衡方程得出理论面内姿态指令,再采用高斯伪谱法对其优化获得实际指令。最后,基于分层滑模理论设计欠驱动张力控制律,并嵌入抗饱和模块以缓解张力饱和。仿真表明空间平台能在正向有限的张力控制下,平滑地收放系绳使面内角和绳长跟踪实际姿态指令。此外,所提策略对目标体摆动和传感器误差也具有良好的鲁棒性。     

ATS-6 Significance

The Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-6), the most powerful, most sophisticated, most versatile communications satellite flown to date, is the last of NASA's experimental satellites intended to demonstrate major advances in communications and spacecraft technology. It is a multipurpose, multidisciplinary spacecraft whose principal objectives were to demonstrate a large, unfurlable antenna structure and precise pointing and attitude control in the synchronous orbit The spacecraft carries 27 different experiments, 3 of which demonstrate users' applications of satellite communications. Significant advances in antenna technology, precise attitude control, materials technology, spacecraft structures, and thermal control have been successfully demonstrated. The most significant accomplishments of the ATS-6 mission are the demonstration of the practicality of satellite broadcasting to small, simple, inexpensive ground stations and the uses of this potential service in the solution of social problems involving education and health care. The success of these initial demonstrations has led ATS-6 experimenters and potential users to incorporate a Public Service Satellite Consortium dedicated to the provision of satellite broadcasting services for educational and health-care applications.     

Orbit Determination Accuracies Using Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking

The results are reported of the ATS-6/GEOS-3 and the ATS-6 NIMBUS-6 satellite-to-satellite orbit determination experiments. NASA intends to use the tracking data relay satellite system for operational orbit determination of NASA satellites. Hence, in the near future, satellite-to-satellite tracking data will be routinely processed to obtain orbits. The satellite-to-satellite tracking system used in the ATS-6/NIMBUS-6 and ATS-6/GEOS-3 experiments performed with a resolution of 1 to 2 m in range and less than 1 mm/s in range rate for a 10-s averaging. A Bayesian least squares estimation technique utilizing independent ranging to the synchronous relay satellite was determined to be the most effective procedure for estimating orbits from satellite-to-satellite tracking data. The use of this technique yields estimates of user satellite orbits which are comparable in accuracy to what is usually obtained from ground based systems.     

Optical fiber geostationary tether satellite (F-GTS) system design

The geostationary satellite orbit (GSO) is a limited natural resource and its efficient utilization is very important. The geostationary tether satellite (GTS) system has a number of satellites aligned along the local vertical on either side of the nominal geostationary position. The system is synchronized with the Earth's rotation and all the various altitudes are geostationary, Furthermore, optical-fiber geostationary tether satellite (F-GTS) system has been introduced to improve the GTS system, with regard to increment of communication capacity, simplification of interference paths and intersatellite link (ISL) capability. The F-GTS system design is discussed with the purpose of achieving a realistic satellite network. Three frequency bands, i.e., the 14/11, 30/20, and 50/40 GHz bands, are examined for selection of the optimum frequency band. The F-GTS system example for covering the service areas in Japan is discussed with regard to satellite antenna diameter, communication capacities, etc. To apply the F-GTS system to the whole GSO, the diagonal azimuth orbit arrangement method is proposed for low latitude service areas. Moreover, the F-GTS communication capacity and total communication capacity, when the F-GTS systems are applied to the whole GSO, are also examined.